First Pro Kona Slots To Be Handed Out This Week

Table of Contents

The Men

The only male in the top 43 (Van Lierde, Alexander and Kienle don’t count as part of the top 40 in terms of qualification) who has not validated is Challenge Roth winner Timo Bracht (GER). Bracht said that Roth would be his Kona for the year. He does have Ironman Copenhagen on his race schedule, which would get him in to Kona as part of the August group. It’s also worth noting that Cameron Brown (NZL) told Triathlete.com that he’s not planning to compete in Kona this year, which means a spot could roll down to Jordan Rapp (USA).

Noticeably absent from qualifier list are brothers Andreas Raelert (currently ranked 156th) and Michael Raelert (currently not ranked at all). It was only three years ago that K-Swiss offered a $1 million bonus to the two if they could finish first and second in Kona, and now it appears neither will be on the 2014 start line.